Terrorist, Socioeconomic, Religious Terrorism 

This contribution argues that social policies ameliorate poor short-run and long-run
socioeconomic conditions (e.g., unemployment, poverty, inequality, and dissatisfaction),
thereby indirectly reducing terrorist activity. The authors empirically assess
the influence of social policies (indicated by social spending and welfare regime variables)
on homegrown terrorism for fifteen Western European countries during the
1980–2003 period. The authors find that higher social spending in certain fields
(health, unemployment benefits, and active labor market programs) is associated
with a significant reduction in homegrown terrorism, while spending in other fields
(e.g., public housing) is not. Moderate evidence furthermore indicates that the
different worlds of welfare capitalism differently affect homeland terrorism. Social
democratic welfare regimes that create low levels of market dependence are on
average less prone to domestic terrorist activity. The findings suggest that
homegrown terrorism in Western Europe may also be fought by higher spending
in certain fields and more generous welfare regimes. 

38 p.; illus.; 28 cm